Robert Jones, a Vietnam veteran, said he was Buddy’s driver in the 1970s and 80s.

“He called me Bobby,” he said.

According to Jones, he was driving Buddy one day to see Governor Garrahy and the Press Corps. He said he was having family issues at the time, and became choked up in the car. That’s when Buddy told him to pull over.

“He said, ‘what’s the problem?’ And I told him the story and everything else. We spent like 20 minutes on the side of Doyle Avenue,” Jones explained. “The whole State of Rhode Island had to wait for me. He says, ‘Look, anything I can do to help you – no problem.’ And he did. He was a great guy.”

Michelle Carvajal travelled the rope line, too. She said Buddy once helped get a friend and her family housing after a bad fire.

“[He] put them up in a new apartment, as well as donating for them to find food and new clothing,” she said. “The things that he did for the city, despite what everyone else says – it’s just, you can’t compare him.”

State Senator Paul Jabour ran as an independent against the Prince of Providence back in 1994.